https://sig2perspectives.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=1773586Informing the PublicIn today’s world of health care, it often seems that reaction has taken precedence over proaction, and that we, as health care providers and consumers, find ourselves taking defensive, rather than offensive, positions. There is one group of people, however, who have started a rebellion against “market driven health care.” ...1999-12-01T00:00:00ArticleNancy Helm-Estabrooks

In today’s world of health care, it often seems that reaction has taken precedence over proaction, and that we, as health care providers and consumers, find ourselves taking defensive, rather than offensive, positions. There is one group of people, however, who have started a rebellion against “market driven health care.” Calling themselves the Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Health Care, a group of doctors, nurses and other health care professions in Boston, led by Nobel Laureate cardiologist Dr. Bernard Lown, began taking action 2 years ago with a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party. Their mission statement is as follows:

We are a group of doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals responding to the moral crisis in health care in which the values of the market are placed above the needs of patients. While critical of ‘market medicine’ we do not deny the failings of the fee-for-service system that preceded it. We believe there is a range of possible solutions to the crisis, which should be fully and openly explored. We plan, using a broad range of approaches, to educate and mobilize the public, stimulate debate, and encourage the country to move toward a more humane and equitable system which guarantees universal access to health care.

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